SVT Shelby, Ford Racing, Cobra Jet, Mike Galimi

Ford has its finger on the pulse with its new products.

In a time when the Big Three are getting beat up, there burns a bright light of success in one of the three major U.S. automakers. In my opinion, if you look at what Ford has been doing with its Mustang lately then it is quite obvious that you and I are the ones the steering their decisions. If you don't believe me, just consider the following facts about the 2010 Mustang GT, 2010 Shelby GT500, and the Cobra Jet drag car.

With the GT, think about the following modifications that Ford made and how it relates to the aftermarket. In 2005, Ford gave us 2.5-inch exhaust on the S197 V-8 cars. That is clearly to help the performance of the engine and there are some cars out there that run 10s with the factory exhaust manifolds, x-pipe, and mufflers. Fast forward to 2010 Mustang GT and you will notice that there is a neat little tube running to the interior. This is to deliver a louder exhaust note to the interior without increasing the exterior sound levels. It goes back to the 2.5-inch exhaust from the factory in 2005. Since the system is so efficient, a majority of muffler purchases were done for a better sound. Ford increased the interior vroom with the inlet tube.

Other great upgrades in the 2010 Stang include the modified instrument cluster, flush armrest for banging gears, and 19-inch wheels. All stuff that enthusiasts modified or complained about when tearing up the tracks and streets in their Pony cars. Ford even upgraded the air intake tract due to the popularity of the cold-air intakes. They looked to the Bullitt and the bragging features of that car when designing this new edition of the S197 platform. Those are just a few of the upgrades. Be sure to check the next issue of MM&FF on the newsstand for all of the great features built into the 2010 Mustang and our own Steve Baur's driving impressions of the car.

Moving on to the Shelby GT500 for the 2010 model year; output was increased with a cold-air kit and better tuning. Sounds like the KR influence on the regular GT500, I would say that Ford looked at how many people modify their current GT500. The exhaust tips are four-inches and the shifter features a shorter throw that the previous model.

The Cobra Jet is the pillar of Ford listening to the motorsports program. As cool as the FR500 program is, there was a vocal group in the NHRA ranks-including Editor Evan Smith—asking Ford to do the same for the NHRA Stock ranks. They responded with a car that is geared towards Stock Eliminator and they listened to the racers by under-rating the horsepower. 

For what is bad right now for some automakers, I feel that Ford is doing a great job with its Mustang program through building what customers want and delivering what they need. The Mustang group is responding to the market and delivering a great product. On so many levels, Mustang is poised to continue to be the segment leader.

Moving outside of Ford, other tell-tale signs of manufacturers looking at enthusiasts desires are Chevy and Nissan. My friend just picked up a Chevy Cobalt SS for a daily driver. It has a pillar-mounted gauge that gives boost readings, and I think even Air/Fuel ratio. The gauges does some other stuff too, but it looks more aftermarket than OEM produced.

Nissan totally played up to the video gamers, which are an enormous segment in the Sport Compact enthusiast market. The GT-R is not just a cult classic but one of the legends in perhaps the biggest video game of all-time, Gran Torismo. The manufacturer made the 11 specialty gauges have similar readouts to the game's gauges on the screen. The engineers even made the car as easy to drive as a video game too with its very advanced electronics.